Friday, April 4, 2008

Shout out to Professor Bernstein

It is high-time for another random non-sequitor as a break from the heavy stuff. This time--a shout out to one of the professors at the University of Delaware (my alma mater).

If anyone knows Dr. Bernstein of the UD history department, please tell him that:

1) Ten years after writing my last paper for him, I still do not use contractions in my writing (he forbade it).

2) I still remember some of his quips.

3) The A- I got from him on my term paper is one of the proudest accomplishments of my college career. (Trust me--you sweated blood for those grades.... It was like trying to get an A on one of Dr. Peretta's accounting exams. Did that too, of course. :p)

4) I am aware that he would greatly disapprove of his name appearing in the same article as the expression "shout-out".

:)

I was thinking about him just now. I was writing, and ruthlessly breaking out all contractions and he just sprang into my mind.

Oh-he probably will not remember me, but just in case, back then I went by my English name, Jennifer.

Okay--off to cook some pancakes and muffins! Tonight is bombing anniversary paaaahty time!

(Dr. Bernstein would no doubt disapprove of the term "paaaahty" as well. Trust me Dr. Bernstein, the pancakes and muffins will make it worth the bad English).

6 comments:

kleine Maus
said...

Being unfamiliar with North American cuisine, I have taken a closer look at this muffin thinglet.It is impossible for me, to imagine a thing with the looks of dog poop in a paper cup, to have a decent taste.

That. That right there. THAT is why I find you so awesome. I'm just going to sit here and be all wow for a moment.

And Muffins are brilliant. It never occurred to me that, naturally, from the perspective of another culture they might look unpleasant. It's moist, sweet bread in an individual serving that can be carried easily in the paper cup to prevent dirtying one's hands. How could that be a bad thing?

New to My Shrapnel? Start at the beginning:

About Me

Message from the Bombing Victim Muppet

I am, of course, neither sad, nor heroic nor particularly victimized. What I am is an "ordinary Joe" who was seriously injured six years ago in a suicide bombing while waiting for a bus at the Machane Yehuda open air market in Jerusalem.

Ever since I learned how to write, writing has served as a sort of therapy for me. In the months and years after the bombing, I did an enormous amount of writing. What I was thinking. What I was feeling. How the world reacted to me. How my bombed-out self reacted to the world. Some of the articles were sent to friends and relatives via email lists. Many more of them just sat on my computer. I always meant to do something with them.

Of course, I never got around to it.

This year, I promised myself that I would, at last do something. And since blogging is the best way to do something without having to do all that much (no publishers, no rejections, no work apart from editing), I decided that this was the way to go.

Please comment. I am putting these out so that people will read them. Let me know that you are reading.